"I don't want maternity care," Perry said during a recent meeting with Alissa Packer from Indivisible Action PA 4th and insurance actuary Stephanie Gray. "I have two children, and we're not having any more. I don't want to pay for maternity care."

Packer then described it as a societal issue. "Who is going to take care of you when you're old?" she said to Perry.

"But that has nothing to do with maternity care," Perry said. "We're talking about the cost of bearing children."

Packer, who talked as protesters rallied outside of Perry's Wormleysburg office days after the health care vote, said to the congressman, "Women who are having the children need to have them in a safe manner."

Perry said, "No, I agree completely, but I'm not having any more. You're asking me to pay for things that I'm never going to use."

A recent Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found that 89 percent of Americans support the Affordable Care Act's requirement that all private health plans include coverage for maternity care. The poll found the requirement was supported by 86 percent of Republicans and 94 percent of Democrats.

The replacement plan supported by Perry and House Republicans, known as the American Health Care Act, narrowly passed the House in a 217-213 vote on May 4. It would allow states to let insurers charge people with pre-existing conditions higher premiums.

The bill also guts the Medicaid program, which approximately 1 in 4 women of reproductive age rely on to access no-cost, reproductive health care, including birth control, cancer screenings and maternity care.

Women with Medicaid would be barred from accessing preventive care at health centers, including services for:

birth control

cancer screenings

STD testing and treatment

Women would also pay more on health insurance if they have breast, ovarian or uterine cancers.

The House bill, if approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump, would also allow insurance companies to deny coverage for gynecological services and mammograms.

Senate leaders said they would not vote on the House plan and will instead draft their own legislation.

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Lehigh Valley Republican, is one of 13 senators - all men - working on the Senate plan.